Ben Alexander is associate director of Headwaters Economics, a research group focused on improving community development and land management decisions in the West. He has worked for the last 15 years with land management agencies, county commissioners, rural development specialists, and ranchers across the West. Ben has published in the areas of collaborative land management, community development, and ranch economics. He lives in Bozeman, Montana with his wife, Sarah, and their two daughters.

Malka Kopell has over 30 years of experience in civic engagement and collaboration. She has worked throughout California to set up collaborative working partnerships between government, business and the civic sector. She also provides training and technical assistance to government agencies and nonprofit organizations, increasing community involvement through recruitment, bringing in non-traditional partners, and building and facilitating productive coalitions. A trained group facilitator, Malka has also consulted in the areas of policy analysis, political campaign development, community outreach and capacity building for nonprofit organizations. Malka lives in San Francisco with her husband, Bill Glenn, and their nine-year-old daughter, Aisha.

Patricia McCaig has more than twenty-five years of experience in the Pacific Northwest assessing citizen perceptions and developing strategic communication plans. Her background includes political, legislative and public policy experience as an advocate, campaign manager, chief of staff, elected official and a public opinion researcher. When asked in a recent interview what person or experience had taught her the most about leadership and how to apply it in her day-to-day work, she volunteered Omar Bradley, the general in charge of coordinating the allied forces invasion of Normandy; strategy, planning, coordination, flexibility, discipline, managing others to deliver their best.

Tom Novick is an executive vice president with M+R Strategic Services, a national public affairs firm. A former Oregon State Representative, Tom has over 30 years of experience working on public policy issues and elections at the state and national level. Tom acts as a consultant, strategist, and trainer for organizations on a range of issues throughout the U.S. and works with a number of foundations and individual philanthropists providing strategic and political assessments and evaluation services. Tom and his wife Wendy and twin teenage daughters Lanie and Claire call Portland, Oregon home, though you're just as likely to find Tom in an airport or on a plane.

Stan Senner has more than 25 years experience in ornithology and in the field of natural resources and wildlife conservation policy in Alaska as well as at national and international levels. In the policy arena, Mr. Senner worked as Alaska Representative for The Wilderness Society and then as a professional staff member for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries during debate and passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. Stan spent more than 10 years as executive director of the National Audubon Society's Alaska State Office, and is now Director of Conservation Science for the Ocean Conservancy.

Kathleen Welch has been engaged in public interest advocacy at the state and national level for more than 25 years. She began her career as an organizer in Texas, working with whistleblowers and local groups challenging the licensing of a nuclear power plant, and has since spent many years promoting clean energy and fighting global warming. She has also held leadership positions at the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Legal Services Corporation, the National Association for Public Interest Law, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group and NYPIRG. Kathleen and her partner, Shelley, live in Washington, D.C. and enjoy frequent escapes to far flung places to ski, paddle, hike, and cycle.